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Duluth awarded legal win over stormwater fee class action suit

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He did not return a message on Friday.

A spokeswoman for the city declined to comment on the case, but Mayor Roger Reinert said in a campaign interview before his election that the suit had the potential to bankrupt the city.

The businesses had alleged the city violated its own code for years by giving discounts to some commercial and multifamily properties while failing to charge others. For example, until 2021, the city gave steep discounts to waterfront properties, which amounted to more than $1 million annually, or 20% of its stormwater utility budget. Duluth collected about $5.2 million in stormwater fees in 2020, and businesses paid nearly half of that, the lawsuit says, at a rate higher than those in comparable cities.

More than 1,500 properties were billed at commercial rates in 2020, according to court documents, a number that also includes discounted properties.

In court filings, attorneys for the city said it had begun reviewing and fixing its billing practices long before the 2021 lawsuit was filed, a process that was completed this year and included remeasuring the impervious surfaces of thousands of properties. That process did find some properties weren’t correctly charged, some because the city wasn’t aware of changes to amounts of impervious surfaces.

A trial had been scheduled for February. It is unclear whether an appeal will be filed.



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E. coli infections traced back to Red Cow restaurants and Hen House Eatery in Minnesota

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Ten cases of E. coli have been identified from customers who ate hamburgers at several locations of the Red Cow restaurant chain and at Hen House Eatery in downtown Minneapolis, the Minnesota Department of Health announced Friday.

The ground beef product connected to those infections was also distributed to other unidentified establishments, according to the Health Department. Additional cases from other locations could be identified, and other potential cases were already under investigation.

The confirmed cases involve meal dates from Oct. 31 through Nov. 7, and illness onset dates from Nov. 4 through Nov. 9, according to the department. Those affected range in age from 9 to 70 years, and two of them have been hospitalized.

Red Cow and Hen House Eatery owners are fully cooperating with the investigation and have already made product changes to prevent further illness, the department said. Red Cow has a total of six locations in Minneapolis, St. Paul, Wayzata and Rochester.

Symptoms of E. coli typically include stomach cramps and diarrhea, often with bloody stools. Illness can set in anywhere from one to eight days after exposure. About 5% of cases can lead to severe complications such as acute kidney failure.



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St. Paul police release video of officers shooting murder suspect who appeared to point gun

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St. Paul police released footage Friday of the moment officers converged up on and shot a man wanted for murdering his pregnant ex-wife after he appeared to point a gun at them.

The police department’s body worn and dash camera footage shows officers Matthew Foy and Eric Jaworski speed towards Stowers in their squad car at around 1:45 p.m. on Nov. 9. Stowers, 36, was wanted for allegedly killing his pregnant ex-wife, Damara Alexis Stowers, 35, who was found dead in her North End apartment on Oct. 19. An anonymous tipster said Stowers was on a bike at a laundromat in the West Seventh neighborhood that day, and the caller confirmed the bicyclist was Stowers as officers waited to verify his identity.

Foy’s engine roared as they sped through the 1100 block of West Seventh Street towards Stowers, stopping about 30 yards from him. That’s when investigators with the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension say Stowers raised a gun at police. A gun was found near the spot outside where he was shot, the agency said.

Jaworski shot five times through Foy’s front windshield as they screeched to a stop, shattering glass with bullets that appeared to strike Stowers. Foy exited the car moments afterwards, shooting four times towards Stowers before reporting that shots were fired.

Stowers turned and ran before Jaworski fire a fifth shot, sending Stowers to the ground. The video then showed four officers approach Stowers with their guns drawn.

“What the [expletive] is going on?” a witness standing yards from Stowers said as police converged on the scene. Jaworski yelled at Stowers to stay still as they approached.

Stowers was taken to Regions Hospital but died some time later. More than six officers were placed on administrative leave, standard procedure for police shootings investigated by the BCA. No other injuries from the shooting.

“We are committed to the sanctity of the independent investigation; we are also committed to the transparency of our actions. That’s why we are releasing the body-worn camera (BWC) and in car camera footage from this incident. No one wants apprehensions to result in the use of force of any kind. Not using force is always our goal—and is the outcome of the majority of our officers’ interactions.” said St. Paul Police Chief Axel Henry. “We grieve with the families impacted, our community, and our officers. We hope that with working together as a community, we can prevent these outcomes in the future.”



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Minnesota sues Zaza Cannabis, seeking destruction of illegal products

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In the first case of its kind in Minnesota, the state is suing the Zaza Cannabis Dispensary after finding products in its stores that contained more than 70 times the legal limit of THC.

The Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) is seeking destruction of the products with illegal amounts of THC, the intoxicating substance in marijuana.

The lawsuits filed in Hennepin and Ramsey county courts followed a September inspection of Zaza that was prompted in part by complaints from the public about the potency of the stores’ products.

State inspectors, the lawsuits said, caught employees smuggling illicit products out the back door during the inspections.

Zaza operates stores in both Minneapolis and St. Paul. Employees answering the phone at those locations said they could not comment on the lawsuits.

“The Office of Cannabis Management takes seriously its responsibility to protect the health and safety of Minnesotans and ensure compliance within the hemp-derived cannabinoid marketplace,” said Josh Collins, a spokesman for OCM, said in a statement.

The action marks the first time that the state agency has sued a cannabis retailer.

Minnesota legalized hemp-derived THC products in 2019, including low-potency forms of the drug, but kept more intoxicating higher-potency products illegal, including “vape pens” and hemp flower that includes more than 0.3% of any form of THC, the lawsuit says.



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